RNC, DNC pipe bomber suspect confesses: court docs

Court filings released Sunday show the suspect accused of planting pipe bombs outside the RNC and DNC headquarters has admitted responsibility for the devices.

Brian Cole, 30, of Virginia, admitted to planting the pipe bombs at the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committee buildings in Washington, DC on January 5, the day before the J6 riots and protests.

US Attorney for the District of Columbia said in a post to X, "My office has filed court documents that Brian Cole, Jr., accused of placing pipe bombs outside the RNC and DNC has admitted that he was responsible for the devices and gave a detailed confession to the charged offenses, telling law enforcement he was frustrated with both political parties. These documents make clear that my office with our law enforcement partners are working vigorously to secure justice in the attempted attack on our nation’s political institutions — nearly five years after the devices were placed and thankfully failed to detonate."

In court documents filed on Sunday, prosecutors said Cole "confessed to planting explosive devices outside the headquarters of the nation’s two major political parties in downtown Washington, D.C." and "confessed to constructing the pipe bombs, to filling them with explosive powder, and to setting their timers to detonate."

When being interviewed by federal authorities he said that "something just snapped" after "watching everything, just everything get worse." He wanted to do something "to the parties" because "they were in charge," the filing read.  

He said that he does not "like either party" when being interviewed in the case but had taken issue with how the election in 2020 had been conducted.  

Over the course of one to two hours, Cole "walked the interviewing agents in detail through his construction, transportation, and planting of the pipe bombs," docs state. "The defendant explained that he made the black powder in the devices using charcoal, Lilly Miller sulfur dust, and potassium nitrate that he purchased from Lowe's. The defendant mixed these ingredients in a Pyrex bowl and used a spoon or measuring cup to pour the black powder into the devices."